Best Music

Choosing the "best" music is like choose the "best-tasting" food. Everyone will have an opinion violently in opposition to someone else's. However, we humans love our lists.

So, thanks to Christopher for pointing out that BBC2 can't avoid listmaking. Here's their list of the best 100 pop/rock songs, ever. And, of course, my opinions, because I have some believe it or not.

1 A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procol Harum (I'll bet you can see how this may be going already...)
2 Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
3 Angels, Robbie Williams (remember: rock occurs outside the U.S....but I don't think this should be Top Ten)
4 Hero, Mariah Carey (Nor this--in fact, she shouldn't be anywhere near the top 400)
5 Imagine, John Lennon
6 Move It, Cliff Richard (Cliff Richard shouldn't really be anywhere on this list, no?)
7 Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin
8 Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf
9 Everyday, Slade (SLADE??)
10 Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
11 Hey Jude, Beatles
12 Live Forever, Oasis (See #3)
13 Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Simon and Garfunkel
14 One Sweet Day, Boyz II Men (Boys II Men above Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown??? oy)
15 God Only Knows, The Beach Boys
16 One, U2
17 Meet on the Ledge, Fairport Convention (...and jump...never heard this song)
18 Mr Blue Sky, ELO
19 Waterloo Sunset, The Kinks
20 Halfway to Paradise, Billy Fury
21 True, Spandau Ballet
22 In My Life, The Beatles
23 When you say nothing at all, Ronan Keating (Who is this?)
24 Home Thoughts From Abroad, Cliff T Ward (And who is this?)
25 Hotel California, The Eagles (The Eagles beat out Springsteen?)
26 Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen (Mariah Carey, Cliff Richard and Slade beat out The Boss?) 27 Dancing Queen, Abba
28 Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen
29 With or Without You, U2
30 Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush (YEAH!)
31 Downtown, Petula Clark
32 Streets of London, Ralph McTell
33 Free Bird, Lynyrd Skynyrd
34 Yesterday, Beatles
35 Careless Whisper, George Michael (OH. MY. GOD. This is apocalyptic)
36 Nights in White Satin, Moody Blues
37 Like A Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan (I don't care for Dylan, but this is not the song nor the location I'd choose for him)
38 A day in the life, Beatles
39 Love Will Tear us Apart, Joy Division
40 Wonderwall, Oasis
41 Barcelona, Freddie Mercury/Monserrat Caballé (I LOVE THIS SONG--it grabs your kidneys and spleen and rattles them)
42 I can't make you love me, Bonnie Raitt
43 That's Entertainment, Paul Weller
44 Unfinished Sympathy, Massive Attack (...who?)
45 Wish you were here, Pink Floyd
46 You don't have to say you love me, Dusty Springfield
47 American Pie, Don Mclean
48 Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty (Loathing, sheer loathing)
49 Let it Be, Beatles
50 Annie's Song, John Denver (...sniff...)
51 Teenage Kicks, The Undertones (...showing my ignorance yet again)
52 That's Alright Mama, Elvis Presley (This beats "Hound Dog" and "Love Me Tender"?)
53 Layla, Derek and the Dominoes (should be MUCH higher)
54 Alone again (naturally), Gilbert O'Sullivan (Please remove immediately)
55 Don't Dream it's Over, Crowded House
56 It Must Be Love, Madness
57 Life on Mars, David Bowie
58 Romeo and Juliet, Dire Straits
59 Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Otis Reading (should be MUCH HIGHER)
60 Suspicious Minds, Elvis Presley
61 I am the Resurrection, Stone Roses
62 Miss you nights, Cliff Richard (delete)
63 My Sweet Lord, George Harrison (...cuz we needed a ripped off melody on the list)
64 Something, Beatles
65 Stardust, Nat King Cole (YES! Oh, yes)
66 Strawberry Fields Forever, Beatles
67 Your Song, Elton John
68 Everybody Hurts, REM (Bravo)
69 I heard it through the Grapevine, Marvin Gaye (should be in the teens at the least)
70 Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana (Good)
71 Feel, Robbie Williams (No. Just...no)
72 Fire and Rain, James Taylor
73 Hunting High and Low, A-Ha (More proof of the End Times)
74 Same Old Rock, Roy Harper (...who?)
75 Heroes, David Bowie
76 I would do anything for love (but I won't do that), Meat Loaf (Hysterical laughter--where is "Paradise..."?)
77 Martha's Harbour, All about Eve
78 Who knows where the time goes, Fairport Convention
79 Beautiful, Christina Aguilera
80 Being Boring, Pet Shop Boys (No)
81 Billie Jean, Michael Jackson (And His Weirdness appears. But not as high on the list as I'd expect)
82 Don't look Back in Anger, Oasis (TOO DAMN MANY Oasis songs)
83 Every Breath You Take, The Police
84 Fairytale of New York, The Pogues (Glad to see we're multinational. Huh)
85 Losing My Religion, REM
86 Wanted Dead or Alive, Bon Jovi (Crack me up)
87 Witchita Lineman, Glenn Campbell
88 All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix (Hendrix at #88? Yeah, er, NOT)
89 Closer to Fine, The Indigo Girls
90 Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd
91 Everything I do, Bryan Adams (delete immediately after vomiting)
92 I'm not in Love, 10CC
93 Puppy Love, Donny Osmond (but the Partridge Family didn't make the cut...no fair--seriously, neither did the Jackson 5)
94 Over the Rainbow, Eva Cassidy
95 Summer of 69, Bryan Adams (see #91)
96 Surf's Up, Beach Boys
97 This Charming Man, The Smiths
98 Tracks of my Tears, Smokey Robinson (should be about 90 numbers up the list)
99 Without you, Harry Nilsson
100 Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison (Much too far down)

The Clash? James Brown? Billy Joel? Little Richard? Eric Clapton (alone)? Jerry Lee Lewis? Stevie Wonder? Diana Ross? The Commodores? The Bee Gees? Frankie Valli? The Rolling Stones? Janis Joplin? The Sex Pistols? AC/DC? And I could go on...

I mean, really: if Brian Adams makes the list--twice--and none of these groups/people do, then there is something terribly wrong.